Bringing you the science fiction and fantasy books that you want...one damned episode at a time!

The Once & Future Podcast is a weekly book-centric podcast for readers and writers alike that focuses on all things fantasy and science fiction, talking with today's hottest authors about their books, writing, and general geekery.

For most artists, including writers, the act of creating attempts to capture and share some emotion, or conversely, evoke an emotional response from an audience. Often, we draw inspiration from our past experiences, traumatic or enjoyable, to deepen the impact. As a scientist, I find the entire transaction of emotions oddly inspirational and terrifying. Feelings are ubiquitous, but cannot be measured objectively; they do not seem to adhere to any law of conservation like energy or mass obey (is there any limit to sorrow or joy?).

Could we better our craft if we knew how emotions flowed from an object (fine art or prose) to a person (or vice versa)? Let us examine the sources and sinks of emotion: our souls. In playful art, this is quite easy to simulate; heck, consider the soul-currency for crafting in From Software’s Dark Souls videogame series—if only we could see as the undead do! In real life, studying the soul is harder.

Many ‘Renaissance Men’ were inspired to find the soul while the art of anatomy flourished. The prevailing Church did not permit the dissection of innocent believers, so criminals or ‘sinners’ were often studied. Bodies were considered divinely sacred and were thus difficult to obtain; acceptable corpses could not be refrigerated, so one had to work fast. Nor were there cameras or video to capture the observations, so artists and alchemists convened in the dissection theaters to document the microcosms of life. Leonardo Da Vinci provided detailed notes along with his drawings (from The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Oxford World's Classics, 1998):

"I have dissected more than ten human bodies, destroying all the various members and removing the minutest particles of flesh which surrounded these veins, without causing any effusion of blood other than the imperceptible bleeding of the capillary veins. And as one single body did not suffice for so long a time, it was necessary to proceed in stages with so many bodies as would render my knowledge complete; this I repeated twice in order to discover the differences. And though you should have a love for such things you may perhaps be deterred by natural repugnance, and if this does not prevent you, you may perhaps be deterred by fear of passing the night hours in the company of these corpses, quartered and flayed and horrible to behold; and if this does not deter you, then perhaps you may lack the skill in drawing, essential for such representation..." p151

Da Vinci determined that the senses were linked to a ‘common sense’ that led to the brain. But no actual soul was discovered. He yielded the goal of managing the soul to religion. Below, from his treatise on painting, he spoke how the artist must deal with this and impart the soul into its subjects otherwise:

"A good painter has two chief objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul; the former is easy, the later hard because he has to represent it by the attitudes and movements of the limbs.” p178

Anatomical artists had to grapple with documenting macabre scenes of opened bodies while remaining 'artistic'. For the dignity of the specimens and to satisfy the surgeons' needs, artists often found harmony by posing their subjects. Perhaps most famous are Johannes de Ketham's Fasiculo de Medicina (1491), Andreas Vesalius's De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), and Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks (1500). The contemporary Bodies: The Exhibition continues this controversial tradition of displaying the dead artistically.

With the most promising connection to our souls being the senses, it follows that the next great promise of discovery came when optical technology allowed scientists to see new worlds. Pioneering microscopists had to draw their observations. In 1664, Robert Hooke published a large treatise entitled Micrographia or Some Physiological Description of Minute Bodies, containing an encyclopedia of detailed drawings of his microscopic views. In his preface, he explains to the reader that optics have enabled a spiritual quest:

“… by the help of microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible world discovered to the understanding. By this means the heavens are opened, and a vast number of new stars, and new motions, and new productions appear in them, to which all the ancient astronomers were utterly strangers.”

The soul has never found, however. Despite ‘the opening of heaven’ with microscopes, the soul still eludes us.

Ernest Haeckel (1834-1919) was another famous artist-scientist fascinated with the aesthetics of nature and the elusiveness of the soul. His 1904 set of lithographs Art Forms in Nature brilliantly exhibit his obsession with the symmetrical beauty of biological microstructures, and his extensions into comparative embryology brought him controversy. He argued this in his support of his own monistic religion that scientific adventures continually uncovered the beautiful designs inherent in nature (monism generally supports that ‘body and soul’ are one connected entity, not separate as many dualistic religions profess):

“The remarkable expansion of our knowledge of nature, and the discovery of countless beautiful forms of life, which it includes, have awakened quite a new aesthetic sense in our generation, and thus given a new tone to painting and sculpture. Numerous scientific voyages and expeditions for the exploration of unknown lands and seas, partly in earlier centuries, but more especially in the nineteenth, have brought to light an undreamed abundance of new organic forms... affording an entirely new inspiration for painting, sculpture, architecture, and technical art.”

In 1900, Haeckel published his scientific, spiritual book Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century in which he explains his monistic philosophies. He shares elegant philosophy on the soul's lack of participation in the "Laws of Substance" (conservation of mass and energy); below, he discusses how many related the nonexistent soul to that which is tangible:

“Thus invisibility comes to be regarded as a most important attribute of the soul. Some, in fact, compare the soul with ether, and regard it, like ether, as an extremely subtle, light, and highly elastic material, an imponderable agency, that fills the intervals between the ponderable particles in the living organism, other compare the soul with the wind, and so give it a gaseous nature; and it is this simile which first found favor with the primitive peoples, and led in time to the familiar dualistic conception. When a man died, the body remained as a lifeless corpse, but the immortal soul ‘flew out of it with the last breath.’”

Indeed, the many myths of preserving a dead man’s soul, or gaining its powers, is pervasive. The notion of relics is common across cultures and time. It assumes that the soul is a contagion remaining attached to the body postmortem. Hence, the power of a Saint could be absorbed if one obtained his or her bones; this gave rise to the theft and desecration of many crypts and catacombs. Many crypts remain with the bodily relics on display. The crypt of Saint Munditia of Munich and the Vienna Imperial Crypts are fine examples. Other famous examples include the shrines of Capuchin monks in Rome and Palermo, Sicily (>6,000 bodies) and the Kostnice 'Church of Bones, Kutna Hora, Sedlec Ossuary, Prague (~40,000 remains).

Alas, we cannot study the soul directly yet, but the journey is inspirational. H.P. Lovecraft summarized our human condition best in his opening to “The Call of Cthulhu” (Weird Tales, 1928):

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age…”

S.E. Lindberg resides near Cincinnati, Ohio working as a microscopist, employing scientific and artistic skills to understand the manufacturing of products analogous to medieval paints. Two decades of practicing chemistry, combined with a passion for dark fantasy, spurs him to write graphic adventure fictionalizing the alchemical humors (primarily under the banner “Dyscrasia Fiction”). With Perseid Press, he writes weird tales infused with history and alchemy (Heroika: Dragon Eaters, Pirates in Hell). He co-moderates the Sword & Sorcery group on Goodreads.com, and invites all to participate, and regularly interviews authors on the topic of Beauty in Weird Fiction.

Please welcome Alethea Kontis, bestselling author, princess, and all around awesome person (the tagline on her website is "optimism is the true resistance"), to Once and Future, where she offers us some wise words on that dreaded beast, Imposter Syndrome.

Earlier this year, I met the only student Katy Kellgren ever had. He told me he just about had to bully her into being his teacher. This amazing, multiple award-winning voice actress with hundreds of audiobooks under her belt truly didn’t believe she knew anything that anyone would want to learn.

And yet, I totally understand why. Because I felt exactly the same way.

As writers, we tell everyone that “Impostor Syndrome” never goes away. It’s true, in a sense. The more we work, the more we learn to recognize it when it pops up—and then we tell it to go away. I mean heck, I winged my fairy tale talk at the Library of Congress. Sure, I wrote up an outline and jotted down a few notes, but fairy tales are something I’ve studied my whole life and genuinely love to talk about. The “OMG WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING, YOU IDIOT?? THIS IS THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!!!” didn’t hit me until about 3/4 of the way into my talk…and by then it was time for questions.

Where that Impostor bugger really loves to rear its ugly head is when you’re starting something new and different. Who are you to think that anyone will follow you down this path your forging? Sure, you’ll make it to the top of that mountain, but what if you turn around and they’re all laughing instead of cheering? That’s right, show up on [Famous Author]’s doorstep, hotshot—she’ll either love you or hate you! And teaching? I mean seriously! Who the heck are you to think that you know anything that anyone wants to learn?

Well, you might be Katy Kellgren. Or you might be me.

In the last few months, it seems like every time I check in on social media, another friend has made a movie deal. Or a TV deal. Or comic book. Or they’re writing for a property I would give my left arm to be part of. Or they sold foreign rights in twenty countries. Or they just shared a picture where some super famous performer is reading their book to his/her kids.

We all reach an age at some point where everyone around us is getting married or having kids, right? Well, when you’re a writer, you reach the age where everyone around you is suddenly Announcing Big Deals. And YES I am happy for them. Immensely! And YES, I get that comparison is the thief of joy. My time will come! But when I posted the link to my online writing workshop for teens, that Impostor voice seeped through the cracks.

Who are you? the Impostor said. Your bestselling book was published 12 years ago. No one remembers you. You haven’t walked a red carpet. No movie stars retweet your posts. Where’s your coloring book? Where’s your HBO series? No one wants to learn from a Nobody.

I could lie and tell you that voice wasn’t constantly in the back of my mind, poking at my ego with its malice. But I won’t. No, I heard that voice loud and clear. But you know what? I did it anyway. And not a ton of kids signed up, but that’s okay. Because SOME DID.

Besides, I told myself, smaller groups are better. Fewer students to forgive me if I screw up, so less pressure for me to put on myself. I’ll feel more comfortable. Stretch my legs. Work the kinks out.

By the end of the first online session (of four), I could feel the magic. I missed working with kids, yes, but more importantly, I had never worked with young writers before. And I don’t ever want to stop working with them for the rest of my life. You know how some teachers say that they feel “a calling”? I do believe I’ve found mine.

AND HERE IS WHY:

—Writers are always asked “If you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?” (When I asked Anne McCaffrey this, she said, “To have more sex while I’m young and beautiful.”) My answer is always: Write more. Never stop. And finish what you start. Now…until they invent the TARDIS, I can’t actually go back in time and tall my teenage self this. BUT I CAN TELL THEM. I can tell them all of that, and more!

—I was a teen writer. Would you believe that I actually forgot this would make a difference? I remember what it’s like to have parents who tell you to “major in something that will get you a real job.” I remember form letters from editors telling me never to use a pseudonym. I remember staring at that novel and KNOWING that I wasn’t old enough to write it. Knowing that I just didn’t have the experience yet to tell the story the way it needed to be told. Knowing that I had not known enough pain and hardship and broken hearts and death. I remember how the stories still wanted to be told, regardless, and how my friends wanted me to write them all, no matter what.

—I had that Cinderella story. I peaked early, both as an actress and a writer. Of course, I didn’t know it at at the time—that’s the curse of peaking early in one’s career. You don’t know how to handle it until it’s too late. But if writing is what you want—if it’s what you really want—nothing will be able to stop you. In the meantime, you lean the hard way how to buckle down and teach yourself a work ethic. You watch friends come up from beneath you and rise above you in record time. Sometime they stay your friends. Sometimes they don’t. You begin to recognize which projects are wort spending time on…and which people, too.

That last bit came directly out of all that vile nonsense the Impostor voice had been spewing. It made me laugh to think that all those reasons I was telling myself I had no business teaching young people was exactly the reason why I should be teaching….especially young people.

It’s true. The Impostor never really goes away. But my teens will learn its tricks, and they will learn them far earlier than I did. AND THEN THEY WILL RULE THE WORLD.

New York Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a voice actress, a force of nature, and a mess. She is responsible for creating the epic fairytale fantasy realm of Arilland, and dabbling in a myriad of other worlds beyond. Her award-winning writing has been published for multiple age groups across all genres. Host of “Princess Alethea’s Fairy Tale Rants” and Princess Alethea’s Traveling Sideshow every year at Dragon Con, Alethea also narrates for ACX, IGMS, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida with her teddy bear, Charlie. Find out more about Princess Alethea and the magic, wonderful world in which she lives here: https://www.patreon.com/princessalethea

Whether you’re an author, artist, comic book writer, or game designer, social media can be a valuable tool. But a tool for what? Using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram “effectively” as an author is one of the things I’m asked about most in my freelance publicity work, and the answer can be deceptively simple, but it’s not what many creators want to hear.

So often, creators want a magic bullet to sell books. A lot think social media is that magic bullet, and when it doesn’t work for them, they lament that they are doing something wrong, or that it’s Facebook’s fault, or that something is broken. And as a creator myself, I completely get the frustration. But the thing is, sometimes things don’t work because you just aren’t using them right. You CAN use a screw driver to drive in a nail. I’ve done it. Smash the butt end against the nail enough and it will eventually go in. But not in the best way. Not the fastest way. Using the proper tools for the job can save a lot of energy and time, and using the tools themselves properly does the same.

You know how Petyr Baelish goes on in Game of Thrones that “chaos is a ladder?” Well, the same is kind of true for marketing. You create one form of content, and if someone is interested in that content, they become curious about your other content. They will climb to another level to explore that content. But first, they have to be enticed to look at that first content to begin with. And this is where a lot of authors go wrong with social media.

See, a lot of authors think of social media as a publicity tool. But here’s the thing. Even though some PARTS of social media can be used for publicity, on the whole, social media is a marketing tool. What’s the difference? Well, marketing is the content you create, basically (simplified). You want people to pay you? Your marketing gives people a reason to pay you. It’s what people are paying you FOR—your value. According to the American Marketing Association, their official definition of marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” So…what does this boil down to? Marketing is offering clients/customers something they find valuable so they hang around, and even eventually pay you for it. How is social media a marketing tool? Well, you create content on social media. Those are your posts. Your images. The links you share. People look at those posts and say, “oh, I’m not interested in that,” and leave. Or they say, “Cool!” and follow you.

That’s it.

So what’s publicity, then?

Publicity is the act of making people AWARE that the content exists. And social media provides opportunities for that, as well. When other people share your posts with their friends? That’s publicity for you. When you take out an ad, that’s publicity for you, to get more likes on your page, or get people to see your book.

If I were to share a link to Charlaine Harris’s new series on my Facebook page, that is marketing on my side. I’m providing some content for my followers that they will hopefully find interesting, and because it’s about books, it’s part of my brand. But at the same time, my sharing that post is publicity for Charlaine Harris, because it is making others aware of her content.

Now…let’s look at how some authors use social media.

“I have a new book out! Click here to learn more!” “My newest book is out! It’s about werewolves and sharks and brontosauruses in space!” “Don’t forget, my new book is coming out!” “Like Anton Strout’s urban fantasy? Then you’ll LOVE mine! Check out my book on Amazon.”

Going back to our knowledge that social media is a mostly a marketing—not publicity—tool, when you look at posts like that, what is the person who is posting that branding themselves as? Remember, branding is like writing: show don’t tell. You can have a brand statement, and scream it from the rooftops, but unless you ARE that brand, unless OTHER PEOPLE see you as that brand, it means nothing. I could say “I’m a monkey astronaut!” as my brand statement, but my followers still know I’m a just a book nerd who plays games. Because that’s how the content I provide portrays me. So what do those above posts say about the person posting them?

They are a pimp.

There’s no content there that makes me believe this person is an author I want to read books from. How do I know I like her stuff? That last one was the closest thing to being somewhat intriguing, but even so…pfft. People are blind to stuff like that. They hear people proclaiming to be things all day. They scroll right by it because it’s NOT CONTENT THEY ARE INTERESTED IN.

If you are a fantasy author, you KNOW your readers want to be whisked away to a magical place.

START THERE.

“I went for a hike this weekend and saw this awesome tree. It looks like a gateway to fairyland or something.” “My cat is staring at ghosts again.” “I love researching stuff for my books. This weekend I got to wield a real battle axe. Those things are way heavier than you’d think! Kind of makes you appreciate Gimli in a whole new way.”

When you are so focused on book sales, posts like that might seem silly. After all, selling your books is how you want to make a living! But in reality, posts like those are what draw people—and keep them following—your page. What you are saying is interesting to them. Then after a while, they will learn that you have books out there. If they like what you say on social media, then they might check out your books, too. After all, you wrote them!

Social media was created so that people can be social with one another. MOST people (not just authors, but everyone) use social media to talk to their friends, to tell folks what they are up to, to share stuff. When you, as an author, use social media, think of how everyone else uses it—how it’s MEANT to be used, and in doing so, you’ll be using it in the most effective way. Social media is meant to cultivate engagement between people. One way to tell if you are actually doing this or not is to think about what feelings you have and what you want others to feel when you make your post. Not actions—FEELINGS. If you want someone to click a link—no, that’s not the most effective use of social media. If you want someone to feel excitement, that is. If you feel excited, that is. There is a huge difference between posting, “Here’s the cover to my new book, coming May 23,” and “Wow, I just got a look at my cover, and I couldn’t wait to show you guys. Look at Johann. He looks EXACTLY how I pictured him when I wrote his story. See that sword? Wait till you guys find out where he gets that from. I LOVED writing this book, and I really can’t wait for you to read it. What do you guys think of the cover?” There’s a big difference between sharing a link for a blog post: “Check out my latest article on O&FP, about social media for authors!” and “So many authors have come to me really frustrated because they aren’t getting the results they want from social media. I gave the subject some thought, because I know how hard these people work and I know there are definitely ways they can use it more efficiently. I ended up writing an article on the subject! Let me know what you think. Did I cover all the bases?” The first example is pointing at something. The second is showing people why they should go there by providing a little actual content.

Appeal to the heart, with sincerity. Post about things you are interested in, that move you. Even if it’s not what your book is about, don’t be one note. Post about your food, post your pets. Comment on other people’s posts. ENGAGE. Once people experience you being social, they get to know you. Once they get to know you, and you mention you have a book you’re working on, they will take the first step. “What’s your book?” Then you can make a new post, “A lot of people have been asking me what I’ve been working on: It’s a superhero novel with a twist. I got the idea when I was watching some construction workers one day, and thinking to myself, we’ve seen tons of nerdy skinny guys become superheroes with the opposite attributes. What about a big burly guy? And what would that change do for his perspective on the world? Can “weakness” be some sort of power on it’s own?” Talk about your work and what gets you excited about it. Your enthusiasm will be contagious. THAT is what will get your followers engaged, and what will make them more likely to search for your book on their own. You can’t make people click on a link, but you can entice them by making it irresistible because you’ve elicited an emotional response from them in some way. You’ve gotten them excited. Once they love you on one rung of that marketing ladder, they are more likely to follow you up to the next rung.

One note about content on social media. There are some folks who will say to avoid controversy, or to only post positive things, or to avoid politics. What should you do? Give it some thought. My opinion is that this is something that only YOU can decide. People don’t like a fake. And like it or not, who you are, you’re life view, bleeds into your fiction. You might as well be true to it on social media as well. But make it a conscious decision, so that you are prepared for any consequences.

Can you post links on social media? Sure you can. But make sure it’s only a small piece of the puzzle. Want book publicity? Take out an ad or encourage folks to share your posts that have actual content in them that represent you and your work. You can’t MAKE people publicize your work, but you can ENTICE them to do so by creating content that both you and they love. By engaging with them. By just being yourself, rather than a pimp.

Unless, you know, you ARE a pimp. Then...carry on!

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Melanie R. Meadors is the author of fantasy stories where heroes don't always carry swords and knights in shining armor often lose to nerds who study their weaknesses. Her fiction has most recently appeared in the anthologiesChampions of Aetaltisand Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters. Melanie is the co-director of the Gen Con Writer's Symposium and the publisher at Outland Entertainment. She's the co-editor of the anthology MECH: Age of Steel and editor of Hath No Fury, and she is a blogger and general b*tch monkey at The Once and Future Podcast.

We all want to be good at the things we do, right? I mean, it’s natural. We want success, approval of some kind often feels good, and validation makes us feel like we have a reason for being on the planet, that we are worth something to others. And yes, we should all have a strong enough self-esteem where we don’t need the approval of others, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that when we receive compliments, it feels good.

But there is a fine line between wanting to do well, and being afraid to do poorly. Wanting to do well is a positive thing. We strive to better ourselves, we want to be masters of our craft, we work hard to achieve our goals. Yet there sometimes comes a point where we can go from trying to do better in a healthy way to bullying ourselves because we aren’t good enough. And that’s what perfectionism is.

It’s one thing to say, “oh, I hope people like this book.” I mean, we’re writers, and that is how we make a living—people like our work enough to buy it. It’s quite another to say, “Oh what if someone doesn’t like this, I’ll change it…Oh, wait, that might not work for these people, maybe I need to just scrap this whole project.” Perfectionism doesn’t know how to say, “Good job on that chapter!” or “I feel really good about where this is going.” Perfectionism is the negative bully in our heads, the one that says, “You’ll never be good enough,” and “No one likes you” (and yes, mine kind of sounds like Smeagol). What are some other things that perfectionism does?

Compares our work to others in a competitive way.

Compares a beginner’s work to a master’s work.

Makes us feel bad about projects we should love.

Makes us afraid to submit our work.

Makes us feel like frauds.

Makes us feel like everyone is talking about us in a bad way.

Keeps us looking for the perfect time, the perfect place, the perfect story, the perfect venue, the perfect audience, the perfect font, the perfect program…Instead of actually WRITING the story.

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people,” says Anne Lamott, of Bird by Bird fame. If you notice you have some really negative self-talk going on in your head, that can be one sign you might be suffering from perfectionism. If you are constantly revising a story instead of submitting it, that can also be a sign of perfectionism. It can take many forms, but the main way you can tell you might have fallen for its tricks?

You know how Yoda says, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the Dark Side?” Well, it’s true. Once you feel that fear of not being good enough, you can become bitter and angry. That’s when you start saying things like, “Look at that author, it’s so easy to be them. No kids, probably rich, too. Of course THEY can have all THEIR dreams come true.” Or, “If I had my own office, I could write for *insert franchise here*, too.” “Why do all of THEIR dreams come true? I must have done something wrong in a past life.” Soon, you start scanning social media, and it seems like everyone has great news to celebrate except for you. And you feel like stabbing them all. OK, not really, but your bitter anger morphs into hate, and you become someone not very fun to be around.

Even reading this, someone who has a Perfectionism Monster on their shoulder will say, “Oh, yeah, easy for her to say. She has ___ and does ___ and gets ____. Of course she thinks it’s all fine and dandy to JUDGE. She doesn’t know what it’s like!” Well, you’re right. I don’t know what it’s like to be you. But you don’t know what it’s like to be all these other authors you might be comparing yourself to. That author who gets to write full time? They are up all night worrying about health insurance and paying their mortgage. The author who gets all these mega-franchise book deals? They are petrified at the keyboard because they are afraid they can’t deliver. We ALL have our hang-ups, and we ALL face perfectionism at some point in our lives. And even when someone’s life seems perfect, it’s not. No one’s lives are. We all have our battles to fight.

So what can you do if you find yourself falling victim to this crap? Well, one thing is to tell that voice in your head to stop being an asshole. You don’t speak to other people that way (I hope). Why do you speak to yourself like that? And yes, that’s easier said than done. But once you catch yourself engaged in negative self-talk, try to switch it off and focus on something good. “I’m not good enough… But I WILL be. And this is a good paragraph. And everyone starts somewhere.”

Remember WHY you are doing it (writing, art, whatever you are doing) in the first place. I’m certain no one started writing because they thought suffering would be fun. Why did you start? Was it because you wanted to share the stories in your head? Was it because you just wanted to write the stories in your head down? Did you want to play with some characters who popped into your head? Did you want to inspire people? Did you want to make people laugh? No matter what your goal was, if you start listening to that imaginary negative voice in your head, you won’t be accomplishing it. Sometimes this negative voice makes us forget our goals. Instead of wanting to write, our goals morph into these things we a) have no control over or b) are unrealistic. You will NEVER write the perfect story. And I don’t know anyone who has ever sat down and said, “OK, I’m going to intentionally sit here and write a New York Times bestselling novel right now,” and had it actually work. That’s because if you only write something in order for it to be “successful,” what you’ll end up with is derivative, shallow crap—copies of what you think other people will want, imitations of what has done well before. The stories that really speak to people are written from within, with passion, excitement, glee. And yes, it’s hard work, too, but without that element of “I’m doing this because it feels good,” stories often fall flat, and those who strive to write a story just to be “successful” end up self-sabotaging their work. And I don’t mean to say that writer’s don’t need to just jump through some hoops in order to stay in business—we all do. But if you remember WHY you are jumping through those hoops, and why you go through the hard times, it’s easier to see your way to the end, to accomplish your goals.

The thing to remember is, if you spend your life waiting for things to be perfect…you’ll spend your whole life waiting. NOTHING is perfect. Nothing will ever BE perfect. So commit yourself to finishing that good-enough draft and sending it out, even if it’s just to show that you CAN do it. Then start the next project, make it good enough, and repeat. Finish things. You’ll never be published if you never submit. You’ll never finish a book if you don’t just grab those ten minutes to jot down some lines. Time is a finite resource, it’s true. Waiting for more to come is an exercise in futility. Those authors out there who have the time to write those books they have? They didn’t have a magic time fairy come by to deliver extra hours in their day. They TOOK that time to write, because writing was important to them, and they silenced the voices in their heads that told them they couldn’t have that time.

You DESERVE to create the things that are in your heart. You DESERVE to take that time, even if it’s 10 or 20 minutes a day. You DESERVE to have your voice heard, you DESERVE to make your dreams come true, and no imaginary voice in your head has the power to tell you otherwise. Banish that bastard, and take control of your destiny.

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Melanie R. Meadors is the author of fantasy stories where heroes don't always carry swords and knights in shining armor often lose to nerds who study their weaknesses. Her fiction has most recently appeared in the anthologiesChampions of Aetaltisand Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters. Melanie is the co-director of the Gen Con Writer's Symposium and the publisher at Outland Entertainment. She's the co-editor of the anthology MECH: Age of Steel and editor of Hath No Fury, and she is a blogger and general b*tch monkey at The Once and Future Podcast.